Chloe Demetriou –Itsu [grocery] Packaging & Artwork Project Manager
4Pack was able to:
Itsu Chelsea, London opened in 1997, followed by 76 more locations over the next 25 years, including Paris and New York, aiming to bring the harmony and precision of Japanese cuisine “within reach of ever more loyal customers”. Itsu [grocery] specialises in an Asian-inspired menu that is high in fibre and protein, low in calories; with a “third of their menu being plant based, and most meals ranging at 500 [good] calories.” Itsu [grocery] products can be found in most major retailers with a growing number of SKUs.
4Pack has a tried and tested onboarding process which increases accuracy and efficiency for our clients, supported by a team of experts to guide each client to a digital way of working. In this instance, 4Pack managed the process from scoping, configuration, testing and release for Itsu. They were the perfect client due to sponsorship and solution successes being communicated from the top down, with a business-wide buy-in.
Prior to 4Pack, itsu had a manual process for their artwork solutions. This included:
This manual process in turn presented challenges for itsu. Not only was the process too slow, but errors were becoming common and there was an increased risk of incorrect information being shared.
4Pack recognised a need for collaboration because itsu used email for briefing and gathering feedback, as well as hosting weekly team meetings and producing reports for the management team.
It exposed the potential for miscommunication, misinformation, and a loss of artwork (which would either need to be remade, replaced, or found – wasting more time and resources).
4Pack are committed to the Gold Standard of achieving right first-time artwork of 1.6 cycle; however, many organisations average 4 cycles when doing this process manually. This means each time an artwork is rejected, it takes time and incurs further costs to correct the errors. 4Packs allows for a seamless process, where many elements for one product can be controlled and collaborated on by multiple divisions.
4Pack was able to streamline this collaborative process whilst maintaining the priorities explained by Chloe, creating a process for sustainable and scalable artwork management. Typically, the time reduced before a product goes to market drops by 30-40%, as automatic version control removes the limitations of working manually, and lowering the risk of buried information or miscommunication, itsu’s new digital ways of working through 4Pack has increased accuracy and efficiency immediately. The burden of wasted admin time is slashed.
"This week was very exciting [and a little scary] for me as I completed the rollout of its’artwork - itsu [grocery]’s first automated artwork system! This project has been my baby for the best part of a year, from sourcing the perfect partner, to working for several months on the implementation, UAT and rollout.
This week I loaded my first live projects onto the system and led training for the rest of the team. I couldn’t have done it without the amazing work of the team at 4PACK. I feel like I’ve been on quite a journey with Helen Poole and Jeremy Whinnett (MAPM), they’ve been nothing but accommodating with all my requests, even when I insisted the system needed to be itsu pink I’m excited for the rest of the business to start seeing the benefits of the system; reducing emails, increasing accuracy and speeding up artwork timings to name just a few."
Chloe Demetriou
Itsu Artwork & Packaging Project Manager
LInkedIn, July 2022
“I’m excited for the rest of the business to start seeing the benefits of the system; reducing emails, increasing accuracy and speeding up artwork timings to name just a few.”